Politics & Government

1:04 pm

Tue June 3, 2014

Pence Vows to Fight New EPA Regulations

Governor Mike Pence says he will use everything at his disposal to oppose new proposed federal regulations seeking to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

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Listen to Brandon Smith's story on Gov. Mike Pence's opposition to new EPA regulations released Monday.

President Obama announced Monday the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulations seek to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent by the year 2030. Eighty percent of Indiana’s energy comes from coal power plants and Governor Pence says for a state so reliant on that source, the EPA’s proposal would be devastating for the Hoosier economy.

He says the regulations will dramatically increase electricity rates and cost thousands of jobs.

“We’ll be opposing that even while we look for ways that we can encourage our utilities to embrace the kind of common sense reforms and implementations that will lead to a cleaner environment,” Pence said.

Bruce Nilles is the director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. He says transitioning to clean energy will create enormous job opportunities. And Nilles notes that the proposed regulations are building on the progress already happening in states such as Indiana.

“The existing coal plants – many of them are over 30 and some are even over 40 years old. So the question is, what are we going to replace them with? And this announcement really helps lay the groundwork for replacing those aging, increasingly dirty coal plants with large amounts of clean energy that creates enormous economic opportunity, as we’re already seeing here in Indiana with investments in wind and solar.”

Pence will unveil a new state energy plan this summer that he says will utilize an “all of the above” strategy to boost efficiency, reduce utility costs and create cleaner energy.